Thursday, September 11, 2008

Return To Bolivia

Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th August

Now I need to solve that tricky problem of being in Peru illegally! As I have no entry stamp in my passport, just turning up at the border is going to be a bit dodgy. 3 options....

1) Turn up at the border, act like I'm heading in the opposite direction - from Bolivia and entering Peru for the first time.
    Pros - I get my passport stamped and I can then just turn round and cross back to Bolivia.
    Cons - they might see my direction of travel and then it hits the fan.

2) Get close to the border, wait for dark, head off road, sneak over the border and back to the road.
    Pros - should work, and all a bit hollywood spy thriller - I like it.
    Cons - it's all a bit of an effort, and getting caught would be truly difficult to explain. Maybe not a good option.

3) Get to the border and see if I can simply walk back across.
    Pros - Not too much hassle and it worked getting in to Peru.
    Cons - Like just walking in to trouble?

To get to the border I decide on a Collectivo - one of the small converted vans that stack around 20 locals into the space designed for 10. The advantage is that I can jump out just before the border and it attracts less attention than does a gringo tourist bus. Then I can just hopefully cycle across the border and to Copacabana. That's the plan....

The collectivo is an uncomfortable, but good natured journey and the locals are chatty - curious about the only white face aboard. I alight at Yunguyo, the border town in Peru. This is what I somehow failed to see a few days ago when I entered Peru...



I try and blend into crowds milling round the border check point. Not easy being a paler shade of skin and pushing a fully loaded touring bike, but amazingly, I am able to just walk unchallenged past machine gun toting soldiers and barriers and stand bemused, once again on Bolivian soil...

Not wanting to tempt fate I delay celebrations and ride like a man illegally crossing a border - like rapidly out of there.

15kms later in Copacabana, I discover the bus for La Paz leaves in 40 minutes, so one rapid dose of street food later, I make the second bus trip of the day and arrive after dark in La Paz.

I am greeted off the bus by uniformed "Tourist Police" who refuse to let me ride. They insist, despite protestations, that I take a taxi to a hostel.

Next morning I realise I will be in La Paz for longer than planned as all transport is cancelled due to the Bolivian national elections taking place.

Walking the streets is like visiting a ghost town. Remembering the bussle and overload of just a few days ago, the town now has a surreal feel to it....



The total absence of cars turns main streets in to play grounds for kids....



But also lays bare some of the nastier problems the rush and crush of crowds serves to hide....



Night falls as the city holds it's breath and awaits the verdict from the masses....

Puno

Wednesday 6th Thursday 7th August

Puno is another favourite spot on the gringo trail perched on the Lake Titicaca shoreline, being a stop off point for people travelling from Bolivia to Cusco, Peru. It boasts boat trips to the "floating Islands" - a group of 37 man made islands constructed from reeds where indigenous tribes of Uros people live.

I visit an old iron gunship called "Yavari" that was used to patrol the deep waters of the lake from 1870 onwards. Designed by James Watt and Co. and built by Thames Ironwork and Shipbuilding Co. both of England; the ship was dismantled into a 2766 piece jigsaw puzzle and carted over the Andes by mules and men!! A small matter of 6 years later, the ship parts finally arrived and were re-assembled on the lake. Once the engine was fuelled with Llama dung, she steamed away for a Christmas Day maiden voyage. Since 1987 she has been part of a restoration project to bring her back to former glory....



The town is squeezed in between Andean foothills and the lake affording a 2 mile expanse of flattish land. Most is used! Buildings ooze up hillsides, most unfinished due to government taxation on completed structures. A steep climb of 600 plus steps gives striking views of the town and lake all overseen by the dramatic 30 foot iron sculpture of a condor....



Town streets are too much of a challenge for tiny 125cc motorbikes, converted to passenger carrying taxis. Here passenger becomes engine and assists in the uphill battle....



The main square houses the baroque style Cathedral completed in 1757. Impressive from the outside with fantastic carvings, the inside is less so....



At night Puno comes alive! Gringo bars are plentiful on the main thoroughfare. Plazas host indigenous acts where bands, comedians and street performers entertain large crowds. A bonfire in the street keeps the chill from the air.....



While the main stage rocks it up....



10 days and 3000kms from where my flight leaves Buenos Aires, I resign myself to the fact that Puno will be the furthest leg of the journey and tomorrow begins the long haul back home. I celebrate in style with a few pisco sours....

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Peru - The Border Crossing

Monday 4th Tuesday 5th August

Copacabana is too mad! There are too many people here on a pilgrimage for the festival and I feel claustraphobic in the narrow confines of the streets. I consider a boat trip to the Isla del Sol, another form of pilgrimage performed by backpackers with lonely planet guides, but I need space.

So I ride...

And it's chaos. Leaving this small town is reminiscent of leaving La Paz in miniature. I escape in a foul mood after a couple of near misses. I need to ride....

Unfortunately I ride just a little too far. 30kms quickly pass me by and I stop to consult a map. You see Copacabana sits quite close to the Peruvian border. Like 8kms close to the border and I've done 30. I wondered where all those tricycle taxiis had come from - not seen any of them in the whole of Bolivia. And the new red and white flags?? Something has definitely changed I thought, but I just had my head in a cloud - lost in riding mode. Now it dawns on me I might be in trouble.

I've just left Bolivia and apparently entered Peru illegally!! Yeah Bolivia, second only to Columbia in it's reputation as a South American drug capital, and I've just left there without officially crossing the border. That's the type of thing that could be misconstrued by a customs official... I do remember a bit on the road with queues of traffic, loads of people and a barrier across the road, but then there are so many police check points with barriers. Usually I just go round them as no one is interested in a solo cyclist. Except perhaps on this occasion....

I begin to think about going back to the border and confessing. But then that won't nesessarily help - why should they believe me, and they don't know when I crossed the border - could have been days ago. So rushing back doesn't make it look like an honest mistake. Might as well see a bit of Peru first and worry later I reason. Se la vie, let fate drive...

Plus there's an almighty head wind for 22kms if I decide to go back. Ho hum...

So I ride on, flip-flopping between a feeling of casual laissez-faire, and a sphincter tightening terror at what could happen should I hit a police check point.

So I have one single photo of the first day on the road out of Copa. And it's not even a very good one. This kind of thought process (Peruvian jail, explaining the extended time away to the family etc) rather detracts from the holiday snappers gay abandon....



I camp at the roadside to finish the 160 km ride to Puno the next day...

To be honest, I find the ride along the lake shore a little disappointing. That's not to say Titicaca is unimpressive. Maybe I was just spoilt in the Argentinian Lake District. Maybe I was just expecting so much by making it one of my tour highlights before I set out... Maybe I'm still edgy from my (failed) border crossing, but for some reason I was expecting more.

However the shoreline does team with birdlife and has prosperous farmland. I pass "Julí", nicknamed the "Rome of South America" for it's four churches on four hills....



And the massive, but now disused bull fighting arena at Acora....



Meanwhile something burns out on the lake...



But I am in no mood for sightseeing and finally get my first glimpse of Puno...

Monday, September 1, 2008

Copacabana

Sunday 3rd August

Copacabana is in festive spirit! Rarely, it's a sacred place for 2 tribes, namely Catholics and the indigenous Aymara Indians. Indeed the name Copacabana is based on the Aymara words for "Lake View" - kota kahuana. One of the town's main draws - the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana is built on the site of an ancient Aymara temple... and Our Lady of Copacabana is the patron saint of Bolivia. So you can see it's got some major religious stuff going for it.

The Basilica...



Coupled with that, August 6th is Bolivia's Independence day celebration, so this whole week is a giant excuse to combine some serious partying with a major religious festival. I am forced to drink....

It's also a beautiful spot, built right on the lake shore and nestled between 2 hills - Mount Niño Calvario and Mount Calvario, a short climb affords great views of the town and lake...



People travel from all over Bolivia and across the border from neighboring Peru to decorate vehicles and have them blessed on the (lake) beach or in the main plaza for safety and good luck. Much needed on Bolivian roads!



The larger Mount Calvario is the destination for religious pilgrimage and a steep climb passes the 12 stages of the cross and the seven sorrows of Mary. During festival people bring miniatures of their desires, such as a car or house to be blessed on the hill top, in the hope they will be realised in the coming year.



Beneath the Basilica, there is a dark soot filled room where effigies in wax are described on the walls for similar reasons...





The sun sets amid much drinking and dancing....